Shalit affair reveals Israel's psychosis

Last update - 06:50 26/06/2009

Anshel Pfeffer / Shalit affair reveals Israel's psychosis

By Anshel Pfeffer

Perhaps for those who sympathize with the Palestinian cause, Shalit is merely a pawn of an occupying army (even though at the time of his capture he was outside the Gaza Strip), and the international attention that Israelis try and focus on his fate seems to them like rank hypocrisy. The campaign on Shalit's behalf has emphasized his youthful visage, and footage of him in civilian clothes, as a child and teenager before joining the IDF, has been shown repeatedly. A story he wrote at the age of 10 was published with much fanfare as a children's book.

The Shalit family, with every justification from its point of view, has squeezed every nerve point of the public conscience. Staff Sgt. Shalit is a soldier lost on a mission and the IDF and government have an obligation to retrieve him alive. Simultaneously, Gilad is the nation's child, bring him home to Ima and Abba. The resonance of this campaign has perplexed and even angered some Israelis, mainly veterans of the defense and intelligence establishment, who while sympathizing with the family's plight, feel that an entire country is being held hostage to the fate of one soldier.

Some of this frustration can be seen in the tense relations between former Prime Minister Olmert and the Shalit family. In one encounter he reportedly told Noam and Aviva Shalit that "the country has no contractual obligation to you." When the last round of negotiations failed in the last week of Olmert's premiership, sources in his office briefed the media that the public protests on Shalit's behalf had emboldened the Palestinian side and hampered Israel's representatives in the talks.

There was a good deal of hypocrisy and obfuscation from Olmert, who never revealed his true position on the issue. Also on the part of Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who support a deal in which hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including convicted murderers, be released in exchange for Shalit, but continue to keep quiet about their views.

Meanwhile, a special committee headed by former Supreme Court President Meir Shamgar is working on a paper setting out standard procedures for the next prisoner situation. The recommendations are expected to include a clear rate of exchange: No live prisoners, only bodies will be handed over in return for bodies of Israeli soldiers, and Israel will not exchange more than a few enemy prisoners in return for a single soldier.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1095782.html

Hamas has not allowed the International Red Cross access to Gilad Shalit, a mirror image of what Hizbollah did leading to the Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev prisoner "exchange" charade.

Abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be transferred to Egypt within a few days as part of a prisoner-exchange deal with Hamas, European diplomatic sources said Thursday.

The move is part of a new United States initiative that includes Egyptian and Syrian pressure on Hamas, internal Palestinian reconciliation and Israel's opening of the Gaza crossings


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1095663.html

All we are going to get is a box of bones.

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but not yours. So it's obviously OK to accuse Netanyahu and his government of wishing Shalit to be returned dead, but it's not OK to call the said accuser a liar.

OK. instead I call out the above poster for AID (anti-Israel-derangement), blindness to the truth caused by pure hatred of Israel, and for a vile, deep and unreasoning hatred of Israel's government, purely because it is right-wing and not to his/her liking, to the extent that he/she accuses it of wishing for its hostage to be returned dead.

I find it hard to believe that any sane person could even think such a thing. Do you even read the Israeli press? Do you have any idea how much everyone is wishing for Gilad Shalit to be returned alive and in good health?

Your mode of thinking is simply beyond my understanding. Mind boggling. And this is called "progressive". OMG.

heard that before you know the rightwingers in this country said being antiBush was blind hatred of America too
As to my statement about the right wing in Israel wanting Gilad Shalit returned as a corpse rather than alive,I stand by it and have said many times before and long before Bibi was was in power.
As to Gilad himself I hope he is alive and felt that most likely he was until OLC, now I am not so sure
LOL yes I read the English translations of the Israeli press.

ETA I never actually saw your message, that bugs me PM if you wish I am not afraid of words or accusations

If you don't, this may not be the website for you...

I didn't realise that meant they had a searing hatred of Australia, but maybe Israel's unique coz I only see this silly carry-on when it comes to Israel. It doesn't matter who's in govt in Israel - they must be supported no matter what and any criticism is *hatred* of the country itself. Hell, if Baruch Goldstein was alive and got elected to govt in Israel, there'd be 'supporters' of Israel falling all over themselves to 'defend' him. Seriously, this Must Defend Nutty No Matter What Coz It's Now The Progressive Thing To Do is even more pathetic than the flurry of tortured and grieving souls posting on sites and imploring people to respect Michael Jackson coz like he did so much for the kiddies of the world and how to the tortured and grieving souls, it's like they've lost a family member. Dumbarses...

usual suspects. Even if it is fun.

:thumbsup:

What you consistently do, however, is tell us convenient lies.

You have used up any goodwill I may have had for you with that disgraceful statement.

in Israel as LEFTISTS?

With the single notable and laudable exception of Rabin, every Israeli prime minister since at least 69 and arguably since 47 has pursued right-wing policies with regards to the Palestinians.

If Israel again elects a left-wing leader, I will be among those praising them, while you will be calling them unrealistic, a traitor or similar.

also goes to hatred of people who are on the right. It also goes usually by those more farther left to absolute claims of what is acceptable/correct left/progressive/liberal views and what is a unacceptable right wing view in regard to Israel as if they are the The Marquess of Queensberry rules on politics. This also leads to accusations by the same people at someone who does not agree with them on something or expresses a differing opinion that does not fit in their immutable "Israel is bad" mantra that they are right wing. This is all a tactic to shut down debate and or divert from having to deal with facts or views they don't like.

That all said, your acceptance of this hatred as something good and needed because someone has different opinions than you is disturbing, revealing and illiberal. Hatred is poison and is almost never a good or needed thing especially when its against someone just because they hold differing opinions and beliefs, hatred blinds them from seeing different options and perspectives out there as well as a skewed reality . Both the right and the left has its illiberal extremists and hating someone because they have different opinions and beliefs is what has no place here and is the domain of both right wing extremists like David Duke types and its far left extremist flipside. Just like some on the right who generalize all people on the left as some Castro like extremist there are also some on the left who generalize all on the right as extremists.

I am a lifelong liberal Dem and I do not or at least try not to hate anyone and certainly not just because I don't agree with them or someone says I should. I have lifelong friends on both the left and right and thank god I don't think like you and then have hatred as a replacement for a few close friends and a little brother who I get to give a brotherly ass whoopin to for being a right wing asshole and make him say "Obama is the greatest Prez and Reagan sucks" as his UNCLE word. It really is satisfying to hear him say that.:evilgrin:

Everyone's worked out by now that apart from being a supporter of the settler movement, you also admire Nutty and his gang of hardline extremists and get very upset when anything derogratory is said about Nutty. Learn to deal with it as there's no rule against it. On the other hand, there is a rule against personal attacks on members of DU, which is why yr post was deservedly deleted. Either you haven't read the rules or you think yr above the rules for some reason, but you'll find it you read the rules and do what most posters do and abide by them yr posts won't get deleted...

prefers that Shalit is returned dead?

I said Bibi and co. that means the Israeli rightwing not just Bibi, and yes I do believe that

I was asking Violet whether she agrees with you. Not expecting a reply though.

that VC resides in Australia and there is a bit of a time difference, she rarely posts at this time of day here

I know where she resides. Some time ago I was curious about her screen name and googled it. Turns out it's the name of a candy bar:

about both her screen name and what it is I Googled it because the name brought to mind some sort of tea cake or petit four
As to amount of time here I knew that too I started posting in 2006 which makes me a relative newby

I think one should be wary of underestimating how extreme Netanyahu is, but in this specific case I think his extremism is almost certainly leading him in the direction of hoping for Shalit to be returned alive - Shalit is Jewish, and hence his life matters to Bibi.

I have no doubt that he'll exploit the situation to the utmost if he isn't, but if he had the choice I think there is virtually no doubt he'd bring Shalit back alive.

bonanza if Shalit is dead vs if he is alive WRT Israel's behavior towards Gaza this goes even more so
now because of OCL

He - like most bad men - has extremely strong ethical principles. It's just unfortunate that they are bad ones. And one of those principles is "protect Jews", I think (with a possible questionmark over secular, liberal, anti-Israel or anti-Zionist Jews who he may regard as "not proper Jews", but Shalit was an IDF soldier and therefor clearly a "proper Jew").